Apple’s iPhone 7 inches us ever-closer to the completely sealed, moving-parts-free ideal of a smartphone slab.

Back when cellphones were young, little thought was given to how they looked or felt in the hand. We carried the fat, heavy gray devices because they promised a kind of utility and communication freedom we’d never enjoyed before. Making a call on a cellphone was a treat, a sign of status.

30 years later, we care far less about making voice calls. Instead we live on the steady flow of mobile data and fixate on handset design. And Apple is right there with us.

Two years ago, Apple unveiled the iPhone 6, a signature design for mobile technology that it's been honing ever since. While there are a pair of notable, even radical, departures from previous iPhones and smartphones, in general, Apple’s iPhone 7 (both the "regular" and Plus models) inches us ever-closer to the completely sealed, moving-parts-free ideal of a smartphone slab.

Apple’s decision to polish, literally, the iPhone 6 and 6S look to create the familiar-yet-excellent Jet Black iPhone 7, makes clear Apple believes it’s on the right path and that, per usual, it’s not taking its cues from the competition.

The pair of handsets I reviewed, the 4.7-inch Apple iPhone 7 and the 5.5-inch Apple iPhone 7 Plus, are beautiful, high-quality handsets that operate as well or better than any smartphones I’ve used before in a variety of situations. They do not astonish nor do they frustrate. Instead, the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus join a long line of industry-defining handsets and, at least in one regard, point the way to the future.

Design

Apple is a company more obsessed with material than most. Over the years, it has wrapped its iPhones in everything from plastic to chrome and most recently 7000 series aluminum — a rigid and resilient material that serves as the perfect canvas for a constantly growing list of eye-catching finishes, the most striking of which is Jet Black.

My iPhone 7 came in this piano-black finish that harkens back to the iPhone 3G/3GS, which featured a shiny black plastic back with a silver-embedded Apple logo. On the iPhone 7, the logo is offset in an only slightly lighter shade of black.

Apple achieves this finish simply by polishing — with a special process, of course — the aluminum alloy. The very same material covers my matte-finish iPhone 7 Plus black test unit. Both finishes feel great in the hand, but the Jet Black iPhone 7 is a bit of a fingerprint magnet. As the Apple fine print warns, it is susceptible to micro-abrasions, dozens of which I can see on the iPhone 7 now, if I look closely.

Contrary to popular belief, Apple did not do away with the antenna lines, but they did remove a couple. In the iPhone 6S, the chassis was broken up into six parts (front, back, top and bottom edge, a narrow panel on the back at the bottom of the phone and one at the top that encompasses the camera and flash). The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus combine the three back panels into one, creating a smoother and more unified look.

Apple removed the small channel in between the volume buttons to give the iPhone's chassis a more unified look.

There are other small changes to the body, like removing the channel surrounding the volume buttons and curving the chassis up toward the now much larger single-lens camera on the iPhone 7 and the dual-lens camera on the iPhone 7 Plus. The latter set of curves, a smart move to mitigate the visual effect of how much more space the new cameras take up on the back of these devices.

As I noted above, the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus match the dimensions of Apple’s previous iPhones, but both have shed a few grams of weight in the process. The 0.28-inch-thick (7.1mm) iPhone 7 weighs 4.9 ounces or 138 grams (the iPhone 6S weighed 5 ounces even, or 143g). The 0.29-inch-thick (7.3 mm) iPhone 7 Plus weighs 6.6 ounces or 188g (the iPhone 6s Plus weighed 6.8 ounces/192g). The Samsung Galaxy S7, which you might compare to the iPhone 7, weighs a bulkier 5.4 ounces (152g). On the other hand, Samsung Galaxy Note7 phablet (which is on recall as I write this) weighs just 6 ounces or 169g — noticeably lighter than the iPhone 7 Plus.

The New Home Button

The Touch ID or Home button on the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus looks exactly as it did on the 6S and 6S Plus, but it’s no longer a button. Yes, it’s inset, and when I push it, I feel it moving. But this is a perfect illusion; the iconic iPhone Home button is finally nothing of the sort. It’s a piece of Sapphire glass that sits on top of Apple’s "Taptic Engine" (essentially a haptic motor), which vibrates every time I press it. Pressure sensors right below the surface tell the motor when I’m pressing and instantly trigger the motor.

Apple actually introduced the Taptic Engine last year with the Apple Watch, iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus. Then, as now, it was used to power 3D Touch, which lets you press down on the screen to get a third dimension of interactivity. The feature also vibrates in a way that fools you into thinking the screen is moving down, However, the effect on the Home button has clearly been refined.

When I press the Home button while holding the iPhone 7 or 7 Plus in my hand, I feel the button “moving” and also hear a “click.” This sound effect, which resonates through to the back of the phone, is also a product of the Taptic Engine. Together, the vibration and sound would fool anyone, even though most recent iPhone Home buttons didn’t actually make an audible click. Apple’s handiwork is slightly less effective, though, when I place either phone on a flat surface and press the Home button. That significantly deadens the Taptic Engine vibration and suddenly it doesn’t really feel like the button is moving.

This new, immobile Home/Touch ID is also just as effective at registering fingerprints and using them to unlock the phone as the previous Home button was.

Goodbye, Headphone Jack

It’s gone. Seriously. First Apple moved the port from the top of the phone to the bottom (remember that?) and now they’ve spirited the little port away.

Everyone knew this was coming, but that did little to dampen the shock and, for some outrage. How could Apple retire one of the oldest and most widely used ports in consumer electronics?

By making the Lightning port do triple duty: power, data and audio.

There are undeniable benefits to this controversial decision. First of all, Apple gets to add yet another touch of symmetry to the iPhone. Both the 7 and 7 Plus feature a single port in the bottom edge (the aforementioned lightning port) and a pair of perfectly spaced grilles that house microphones and, on one side, a speaker.

Ports, even one as venerable as the 3.5mm headphone jack, come and go, but its testament to just how far ahead of the curve the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus are that Apple had to include not just a new set of Lightning EarPod headphones, but a Lightning-to-3.5mm adapter (or dongle) in every single box.

It’s a smart and necessary move on Apple’s part, which could scarcely ignore the $8 billion headphone market. If you’re concerned about losing the dongle — as I am — It might be smart to keep it attached to your favorite 3.5 mm-jack-sporting headphones.

I tried the dongle with a pair of over-the-ear headphones. The headphones 3.5 mm headphone snapped with a loud click into the Apple adapter, which then plugged into the iPhone 7 or 7 Plus. There were no discernible sound quality issues.

Likewise, the included lighting EarPods, which, aside from the plug, look exactly the same as Apple’s last set of included iPhone EarPods, worked and sounded fine.

Water resistance

When you lose a port on a relatively small consumer-electronics device, you do gain a thing or two. In the case of the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, there’s that lowered weight, maybe just a little more room for battery and components (more on that later) and fewer access points for water and dust.

Apple’s iPhone 7 and 7 Plus are the company’s first, official water- and dust-resistant iPhones. Both handsets are rated IP67 for environmental protection. The “6” in this rating means the iPhones are totally protected against dust. I’m glad they can hold up to dust, but it’s not something I can actually test or talk about in detail. If you buy one and get caught in a dust storm, let me know how that works out.

The “7” in the IP67 rating means both Phones can survive under 3 feet (1 meter) of water for up to 30 minutes. Now this was something I could test.

The iPhone takes a shower.

I had a good time placing the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus under running water and dropping them into water-filled containers and sinks. Not only did they hold up, but both phones continued to function in the drink. No, you can’t use a capacitive touchscreen underwater (though you can write with the Samsung S-Pen on the IP68-rated Samsung Galaxy Note7 while it's immersed), but I was able to use the side button to take pictures and even set the iPhone 7 up to film in slo-mo while it was underwater. The result was pretty awesome.

Each time I tried this, the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus were unharmed. I fished them out of the water and dried them with a cloth and then continue using them. One thing you cannot do right after submerging your phone, though, is charge it. Apple recommends letting the Lightning port dry out for five hours before attempting to charge either device again.

Apple is not positioning the iPhone 7 or 7 Plus as waterproof. I would not recommend going for a swim with your new device, but if you wanted peace of mind after accidentally dropping the iPhone 7 or 7 Plus in the toilet, you finally have it.

Displays & Cameras

While the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus are, aside from their size, virtually identical, they diverge at screen resolution and, more importantly, camera capabilities.

The resolution of both displays is unchanged from the iPhone 6S and 6SPlus. The iPhone 7’s Retina HD screen is 1,334 x 750 pixels, while the 7 Plus is 1,920 x 1,080. At 2,560 x 1,440 pixels, the slightly larger Samsung Galaxy S7 beats the iPhone 7 by a significant margin. Likewise, the beleaguered 5.7-inch Samsung Galaxy Note7’s screen resolution is the same as the Galaxy S7, so it beats the iPhone 7 Plus on the spec sheet.

Since Apple seems disinterested in winning on the pixel front, the company has shifted focus to image quality. The latest Retina HD displays on the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus feature a wide color gamut, which means you should be able to see more and, potentially, truer colors than basic RGB can display.

It’s the kind of feature enhancement that can be hard to test without high-end display-test equipment. Without question, imagery on both the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus is sharp and brilliant. However, the best illustration of the new Retina HD display’s color prowess can be found in the pictures that the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus’s brand new cameras capture.

Let’s start by focusing on the wide-angle camera found on both the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. Apple didn't update the megapixels: The cameras are still 12MP (which is parity with the Samsung Galaxy S7 and Note7), but these are not the same cameras as those found in the iPhone 6S or 6S Plus.

Compared to the Galaxy S7, colors captured from the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus (labeled as just the latter for simplicity) benefit from the wide color gamut.

Lance Ulanoff

Instead of five elements, the new iPhone cameras have six. More importantly, these are now much faster cameras, thanks to large f/1.8 apertures on the wide-angle lens. The iPhone 6S and 6S Plus topped out at f/2.2 openings. Wider aperture openings (unintuitively represented by lower numbers) means more light, faster lenses and more creative possibilities.

Images taken with the iPhone 7’s 12MP camera and its doppelganger on the iPhone 7 Plus look fantastic. Both phones now include optical image stabilization, which will help steady photos in shaky hands and could be useful for action shots.

In my tests I focused primarily on still image quality, comparing the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus to the iPhone 6S Plus and the Galaxy S7.

The relative size of the image captured by the iPhone 7/7 Plus, the iPhone 7 Plus's 2x telephoto lens, and the Samsung Galaxy S7.

Lance Ulanoff

The defining characteristic of the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus is color verity. At a glance, Samsung Galaxy S7 pictures will look better, but this is often because it does what looks like a cleanup pass that removes some of the gradations between colors and then boost the primary colors. So colors pop, but, compared to real life, they can appear over-bright.

Apple does just as many, if not more computations on each photo (Apple said a billion), but the result is something closer to "truth." Granted, this is a subtle difference that I’m not sure everyone will discern. In addition, I still think the Galaxy S7 takes excellent photos; the iPhone 7 wide angle cameras are just slightly better.

In low-light situations, the Galaxy S7 focuses and snaps pictures faster. As usual, the colors are over-bright. For some, this is a good thing, but the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus’s wide-angle camera will err on the muted side. When I took a picture of my wife in a room with only ambient light as she stood against an orange wall while holding a peach, the iPhone 7 ably recreated her skin tone and the peach color, but it lost the wall color. The Galaxy S7 turned her blue shirt a bright, Kelly blue, but also managed to get the orange wall behind her. (My wife preferred the Samsung Galaxy S7 shots).

The Dual Camera

The iPhone 7 Plus adds a useful telephoto lens that is a duplicate of the wide-angle lens in virtually every regard, except it has 2x optical zoom. That may not seem like a lot of magnification, but any amount of non-digital zooming on a smartphone is impressive. To achieve this effect on my current iPhone, I carry an Olloclip 2x zoom iPhone lens add-on (and, no, I can’t turn my 2x into 4x with Olloclip -- it won’t fit on the iPhone 7 Plus double-lens configuration).

To use my new iPhone 7 Plus telephoto lens, I just tap on the little 1x that floats in front of every photo.

When compared to the digital zoom of any previous iPhone or even the Galaxy S7... well, there is no comparison. You simply can’t beat optical zoom.

What the iPhone 7 Plus's telephoto camera can do.

Lance Ulanoff

If you were wondering, I can also zoom at everything between 1x to 2x and beyond. In fact, the new iPhone 7 Plus will let me zoom all the way to 10x digital zoom (it tops out at 6x for video). Unfortunately, 10x digital zoom looks terrible. I have no idea why Apple bothered to include this, especially after going to the trouble of putting in an optical zoom lens. I’m sure some people will find some use for it (probably with a tripod), but I fear it will lead to our social streams will soon be filled with blown-out bits of image garbage.

If, however, you use some restraint and try not to zoom past 6x, the results in still, video and slo-mo (3x, only) should be pretty good. Time-lapse and pano (it makes 63MP images) only offer 2x.

A promised photo feature, Portrait, which adds a defocused background on photos for a dramatic depth-of-field look, was not ready yet. Considering the f/1.8 and f/2.8 of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus telephoto lenses, respectively, which can dramatically shorten the depth of field, this could result in some pretty spectacular smartphone photos.

The Selfie Camera

The front-facing camera, at various times called the FaceTime or selfie camera, also got a significant update. It’s now 7MP and also includes auto-image stabilization. It’s not optical image stabilization, but in my tests, the results were just as good.

Without question, Apple’s FaceTime HD camera produces better, more realistic (which may or may not be a good thing) and sharper selfies than I got on the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, and on the Samsung Galaxy S7. The Retina flash is still there, too, and does a decent job of brightening low-light selfies, but natural light will always look better.

Stereo Speakers

Apple did make one other small change to the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus body and it's one that you could easily miss. The earphone speaker slot is now noticeably wider than on the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus. This is to accommodate a new second speaker. That’s right, the iPhone finally has stereo.

Even though the bottom edge speaker fires down and away from you while the new speaker slot blasts audio right at your face, the audio doesn’t sound unbalanced. I played songs, movies and games and all got loud, but, thankfully, not distorted. This is not the kind of audio you’d want to use to fill a room, but it worked fairly well one evening when my wife and I we sat on our patio and listened to the new Lady Gaga single "Perfect Illusion." My chief criticism is that there’s not enough bass (how could there be in such a thin device?), which can make the music sound a tad tinny.

Gaming, though, is where the stereo speakers really shine. That’s because it can, when game companies develop for it, be used in concert with the Taptic Engine. So not only do you hear gunfire and explosions in the right positions, you feel the vibration in the phone. I had the opportunity to try this out with some pre-release games on the day Apple launched the phones. The vibrations aren’t as strong as what you’ll find on a standard game controller, but they’re noticeable and do add to the mobile gaming experience.

Performance

Speaking of gaming, both the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus pack Apple’s new A10 Fusion processor. According to Geekbench 4 results, it’s a roughly 2GHz CPU supported by, on the iPhone 7, 2GB of RAM and, on the iPhone 7 Plus, 3GB of RAM.

The Geekbench single- and dual-core scores for the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus are almost identical, and they both significantly outshine the Samsung Galaxy S7.

How the iPhone 7 (left) and iPhone 7 Plus (center) stack up against the Samsung Galaxy S7 (right), according to Geekbench benchmarks.

Frankly, all of these smartphones are fast. They don’t stutter when switching between apps, browsing the web or playing intense games.

Most of the games currently available probably don’t even take complete advantage of all the iPhone 7’s power (they certainly don’t tap into the Taptic engine), but the games I did play, like Infinity Blade III and Real Racing 3 looked spectacular and played smoothly. I tried with a drawing app, Procreate Pocket, to see if I could draw too fast for the smartphone to keep up. I couldn’t on the 6S Plus and I certainly couldn’t on the 7 Plus.

Battery Life

Apple didn’t make the iPhone 7 or 7 Plus any larger than the last models, but they clearly gained a little battery space by dropping the 3.5mm headphone jack. The day-plus of battery life I’m currently getting with both phones is likely due to that extra battery space and the more efficient A10 Fusion CPU. The larger iPhone 7 is closing in on two days with moderate use. This is not an exhaustive battery test and your mileage may vary. But, as of now, I’m generally impressed with how long both smartphones last on a charge.

iOS 10

Mashable Senior Tech Correspondent Raymond Wong has a separate review of iOS 10, but so much of the experience of using the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus is tied to the update that I can't ignore it here.

First of all, slide-to-unlock is gone. Instead, iOS 10 asks you to press the non-moving Touch ID button. From the lock screen, sliding the screen to the left opens the camera. It took me a while to get used to this. Register your fingerprint with the phone and you’ll never have to think about this again; just put your finger on the Touch ID button, press once and the iPhone 7 or 7 Plus will unlock.

If you slide your home screen to the right, you’ll see the new widget screen with Spotlight search at the top. Notifications, which pop up on screen and can be revealed with a swipe down from the top, also get this new, richer treatment. At first, I didn’t like this. I missed iOS 9’s more concise look. Eventually, I came to appreciate the extra detail and, sometimes, level of interaction I got from some app notifications. Twitter, for instance, shows me a new follower notification and offers me the ability to “say hello” in Twitter without even opening the app.

Photos also got a bunch of updates, including the new Memories, which is already hard at work giving me collections of my best photos in attractive slideshows that even include music. Memories employs computer vision to analyze each photo to identify the people and objects in them as well as the places where I took them.

Most of the choices Memories makes are good, but some are silly. It should know better than to include screenshots in slideshows. I suspect it needs to learn more about my photo habits before I trust it to refine my photo presentations.

One of the other big iOS 10 highlights is the new Messages. Digital Touch, which was first introduced on the Apple Watch, has made its way to the iPhone. Now I can quickly add photos, videos, heartbeats, taps and even doodles to my messages. Many of the animations, though, are lost when I send them to someone not yet on iOS 10 or on an Android phone. The heartbeat I sent to my wife’s iPhone 5S showed up as still image of a blurry heart. I’m sure this will be a lot more fun when everyone upgrades.

The Upgrade Question

If you’re an iPhone owner, Apple's new models are definitely worthwhile upgrades, especially since both the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus now start at 32GB for the same price as the previous model. The iPhone 7 starts at $649, and the iPhone 7 Plus starts at $769.

If you don’t mind the larger phone, I would go for the iPhone 7 Plus. That 2x lens is simply awesome and you will thank me every time you attend a concert and sit in the nosebleed section.

Am I bothered by the lack of a 3.5 mm jack? No. the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus both ship with Lightning EarPods and a dongle for no extra charge. I have no complaints.

Do I wish Apple had added wireless charging? Sure, but then I’m not sweating having to plug it in to charge. Plus, wireless charging bases are far from ubiquitous. But when they are, Apple had better add it.

And I want to personally thank Apple for finally adding water resistance.

Apple steered clear this time of reinvention, but all the changes they did bring to the iPhone brand are worthwhile and welcome. Is it parity with the Samsung Galaxy S7 and Galaxy Note7? Yes and no. iOS remains my preferred mobile OS. Compared to Android, it’s better organized and consistent from device to device (though Samsung has made huge strides in this area).

Despite the Note7’s recent travails, I still find it remarkable how much screen and battery life Samsung squeezed into a device that is not only lighter than the iPhone 7 Plus, but also includes wireless charging and a dedicated stylus. I’d like to see the next iPhone Plus model get a little lighter. Neither the S7 nor the Note7 can match the Taptic Engine, nor the sheer excellence of Apple’s cameras. Samsung’s shooters are very close in terms of image quality, but that extra 2x optical zoom is a very big, ahem, plus.

I’m not sure if Apple’s iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus are the best smartphones ever, but these are easily the best iPhones ever, and they're excellent upgrade options for current iOS customers.

Correction: This review originally said the iPhone 7's Jet Black finish was reminiscent of the plastic back of the original iPhone, but that phone had a metal back. It was actually the iPhone 3G that introduced the plastic back.

Bottom Line: iPhone 7

The Good

Beautiful, yet familiar, design • Responsive new home button • Excellent camera • Performance and power to spare • Great battery life • Water resistant